Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu said it has become necessary to transform IT (Information Technology) and BT (Biotechnology) and create a wealth of knowledge for the country. Naidu was speaking during the inauguration of the 24th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2021.
He said ultimately, the aim of technology and innovation should be to bring happiness to people, and enunciated the need to share knowledge and ideas.
Naidu said the summit should also focus on agriculture which is facing problems, and the challenges that are posed to mankind by climate change and the ongoing pandemic. “We should come up with new ideas through innovation to encourage the growth of knowledge economy and ensure that we reform and perform better to transform India into the new economy,” remarked Naidu. He called upon private entrepreneurs to create jobs in the new economy.
During the inaugural session, Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who joined the session virtually from Jerusalem, said during a meeting with PM Narendra Modi a few weeks ago, they discussed how both the countries could take India-Israel relations to the next level, especially with regard to technological collaborations.
“Technology has the power to not only help lives but also to save lives. India is one of the biggest economies of the world and has vast digital expertise. Israel is one of the most innovative nations in the world. When India and Israel come together, amazing things can happen,” said Bennett.
He said the combination of innovation and entrepreneurship, and creativity and imagination of the two countries can lead to amazing things. “The future belongs to those who innovate. I hope to travel to India soon and see what the future holds for the two nations,” said Bennett.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who too joined the inaugural session virtually, said India is a major technology power. “Technology is at the forefront of the comprehensive strategic partnership which Prime Minister Modi and I signed last year. We have already made great progress and are sharing expertise on cyber and critical technologies like quantum computing and Artificial Intelligence. At the same time we are working to make our supply chains more secure and resilient. We are collaborating on the mining and processing of critical minerals – like cobalt and lithium and rare earth elements – that are vital to clean energy technologies and have military applications,” said Morrison.
He said the two countries were also cooperating on space science, technology, and research, and Australia is also supporting India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission. “We are deepening our education and research links that are vital to technological cooperation. We are also working towards a low emissions technology partnership, which will see us combine efforts on hydrogen and ultra low-cost solar. Reducing emissions while driving economic growth in both our economies,” added Morrison.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Karnataka had an estimated GDP of around $230 billion (2019-20) and the state is leading in sectors such as Information Technology, Information Technology enabled services, electronics, machine tools, Aerospace and Biotechnology, and ranked fourth in nominal GDP, after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
“Karnataka had an FDI inflow of US$ 42.3 billion between 2000-2019 is the third highest among all the states in India. Karnataka is also home to over 5,500 plus IT/ITES companies and 750 MNCs contributing to over Rs 42.5 lakh crore of exports, giving direct employment to over 12 lakh professionals and creating over 31 lakhs indirect jobs. The share of Karnataka in Information Technology exports is nearly 40 per cent of the country's exports. The IT sector contributes 25 per cent to the state's gross state domestic product (GSDP). Karnataka is India's largest chip design hub, with 85 plus chip design companies and 70 per cent of the country's chip designers,” said Bommai.
